CANTON, MASSACHUSETTS — Karen Read filed a lawsuit against the Massachusetts State Police and the town of Canton on a recent Thursday, alleging misconduct and negligence in her prosecution. Read was acquitted of murder charges in June following a second trial, after a first trial resulted in a hung jury.
She was convicted of one charge of operating under the influence of liquor. Prosecutors had alleged that Read reversed her Lexus SUV into John O'Keefe, 46, and left him for dead after dropping him off for a gathering. O'Keefe's body was discovered outside a suburban home on January 29, 2022. The Norfolk County District Attorney's Office presented vehicle data and expert testimony during the trial, but there was no video evidence of the alleged collision, nor any witnesses who claimed to have seen it.
Read's attorneys argued during the first trial that Brian Albert, a retired police sergeant who helped host the gathering at his Canton home, and others were responsible for O'Keefe's death and framed Read. Judges barred Read's attorneys from identifying Albert and others as suspects during the second trial. Massachusetts State Police superintendent Col. Geoffrey Noble described text messages cited in the lawsuit as inconsistent with State Police standards.
Noble stated, "These racist, sexist and abhorrent comments absolutely do not reflect the values of the Massachusetts State Police and are not tolerated within our ranks." Officials in Canton stated that the town has implemented findings from an audit that was critical of how its police officers handled the case. Read stated she is not currently working and is dedicating her time to her legal case. Read said, "I'm working on the case every day, and I don't know that I really ever took time off, and I don't know that I felt like I wanted to take time off."
No independent assessment of Karen Read’s claims was available.